Where do you rank Division Bell in Pink Floyd's catalog?

Been listening to it a lot lately and for some reason it's really grabbing me.

I've always liked The Division Bell and the year it came out it was one of my favorites. However, ranking it against the rest of their catalog it would be fairly close to the bottom of the list, only Momentary Lapse of Reason would be under it.

That's not any indication of the merits of the album, just more of a reflection on what high regard I hold their earlier material.

boy, I really love Division Bell. It has some really killer songs on it...I especially like the final three: Keep Talking, Lost for Words, and High Hopes.

As far as ranking it, I can't say precisely, but I would probably put it about midway. For me it's above Atom Heart Mother, The Final Cut, Music from the Film More, Ummagumma, and Momentary Lapse of Reason.

I'd probably put it in the middle. I'm not a fan of most of their stuff before Dark Side, a song here and there but not an album. I'd put Wish You Were Here at the top and I really like Momentary Lapse as On the Turning Away is my favorite song by them.

Dark Horseman wrote:

I'd probably put it in the middle. I'm not a fan of most of their stuff before Dark Side, a song here and there but not an album. I'd put Wish You Were Here at the top and I really like Momentary Lapse as On the Turning Away is my favorite song by them.

My favorite Floyd album of all-time is Meddle, that's a couple albums prior to Dark Side.

I never thought about ranking my favorite Floyd albums before...why not...

1. Meddle
2. Wish You Were Here
3. Animals
4. Dark Side Of The Moon
5. The Wall
6. Obscured By Clouds
7. The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn
8. Atom Heart Mother
9. Ummagumma
10. The Final Cut
11. More
12. A Saucerful Of Secrets
13. The Division Bell
14. A Momentary Lapse of Reason

Right behind "Wish..." at second place.

1. WYWH
2. TDB
3. Animals
4. A Momentary Lapse
5. The Final Cut
6. A Saucerful Of Secrets
7. Dark Side

I've heard "The Wall" at the age of 12 and don't remember much of it. I have to re-listen to it someday.

I would put it decently high. It seems a little schizophrenic at times, and I feel that kind of drags it a little, but it's a much needed album.

Here is how I would rank:


1. Meddle
2. Momentary Lapse
3. Animals
4. Ummagumma
5. Dark Side of the Moon
6. Division Bell
7. Obscured by Clouds
8. Atom Heart Mother
9. The Wall
10. A Saucerful of Secrets
11. More
12. Piper At The Gates of Dawn
13. Wish You Were Here
14. The Final Cut

I have some huge, gaping holes in my Pink Floyd collection. The most notable being that I own none of the post-Roger Waters albums. Nothing againt that era, I just never got around to getting any albums yet.

Roger's dark and depressing music appealed to me right from the get-go, so I snapped them up first. The more psychedelic-Syd era has some appeal too, but again, it'll happen when I get around to it.

Where's a good place to start in the non-Roger Pink Floyd discography? Keep in mind that no matter where I start, I'll probably get them all at some point down the line. But where should I go first?

it's 18 years old and I hardly know it. I've had it for about 5 years and maybe heard it 4 times so I don't know how good it is.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

Where's a good place to start in the non-Roger Pink Floyd discography? Keep in mind that no matter where I start, I'll probably get them all at some point down the line. But where should I go first?

There are only 2 studio and 2 live albums without Roger.

A Momentary Lapse Of Reason
The Division Bell
Delicate Sound Of Thunder (live)
Pulse (live)

To be honest, the live albums are superior to the studio releases.

As for Barrett, there is only 1 studio album: The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn. There is also the Relics collection which has some non-LP singles with Syd.

The rest of their discography is Gilmour, Waters, Wright & Mason. Except for The Final Cut which Wright does not appear on.

Quote :

There are only 2 studio without Roger.

A Momentary Lapse Of Reason
The Division Bell

Only 2? Huh, I woulda guessed more. Guess there's no reason not to get them both then. I'm more inclined to go with studio albums first before I delve into the live stuff. Just personal preference. I know how you get a boner over live material though.

The only songs I've heard from the Syd-era are on my 2-disc comp, Echoes. Cool, but different from what I've come to expect from those guys.

OCI, I was impressed you put Momentary so hight but then you bottomed out with WYWH so low.

The Division Bell and Momentary Lapse are on my short list to get...I still don't own The Wall...

My faves (what I own so far) are:

1. Wish You Were Here
2. Dark Side Of The Moon
3. Animals
4. Relics

I never understood the dislike for the Division Bell. Yeah it may just sound like a lot of other Pink Floyd albums but is that bad? I always enjoyed it a lot, there are some great songs like Marooned (great instrumental), High Hopes, What do you want from me, Keep Talking and even the pop oriented Take it Back is something i like.

As for ranking:

1. Wish you were Here
2. Dark Side of the Moon
3. Meddle (Actually there are only 2 great songs - Echoes and One of these Days, the rest is Filler but it was the first PF album i ever heard so i rank it high)
4. Animals
5. The Wall
6. Division Bell
7. The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn
8. A Saucerful of Secrets
9. Obscured by Clouds
10. A Momentary Lapse of Reason
11. Atom Heart Mother
12. The Final Cut
13. More
14. Ummagumma


If we count Relics i would place it at 7 - Julia Dream is such a beautiful song.

S.D. wrote:

As for Barrett, there is only 1 studio album: The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn. There is also the Relics collection which has some non-LP singles with Syd.

A Saucerful of Secrets also has some Syd Barrett, as he plays Guitar on Remember a Day and Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun and plays guitar and sings lead vocals on Jugband Blues.

I have Division Bell but have yet to open it

But based on my exposure to Pink Floyd

The Wall
Darkside of the Moon
Wish you were Here
Piper at the Gates of Dawn

Ever since I saw Roger Waters perform the Wall live I have a new appreciation for that album

Dark Horseman wrote:

OCI, I was impressed you put Momentary so hight but then you bottomed out with WYWH so low.

oh, 'Momentary' is so hugely underrated. Classic intro instrumental, maybe I could do without some of the drum production, and 'On the Turning Away' is really a guilty pleasure at best, but Gilmour and his blues-from-the-future just dominates the record so good. I was 10 when I heard 'A New Machine 1 & 2/Terminal Frost', the way those segue together, with the robot voice and everything, and I had never heard anything like that, really like that entire record. People need to check that album out and just drown in it and not expect the 70's radio rock sound (if they are Wall-o-philes), not expect 'Atom Heart Mother' either...it's very good stuff. It doesn't have the monument song that 'High Hopes' is off 'Division Bell' but it flows better than 'Division Bell'. I think junk like 'Take It Back' is way worse than the worst thing off 'Momentary'....and people forget how much filler is in some of the early Floyd too.

I have WYWH low because almost all of that stuff is just so much better live. I find the studio version of 'Shine on You Crazy Diamond' to be pretty lifeless, and besides that piece, the album tends to feel like an EP...

It's funmy, while I like some songs off The Wall I can't listen to it as an album. Annoys the heck out of me.

I'll grant that the live versions of Shine on You Crazy Diamond are better but the studio versions lifeless? Hmmmmm....

I think its a great album but still would rank it near the bottom, love the album but these guys have one of the strongest discographies of any band that I can think of.

Dark Horseman wrote:

It's funmy, while I like some songs off The Wall I can't listen to it as an album. Annoys the heck out of me.

I think it's a great album and the songs are enjoyable.
Some 8 years ago they made a "official" musical out of it here in Germany and the stage show and the band were horrible, it got big praises from newspapers and Feuilleton calling it awesome, yet half the crowd left after the first part and overall it was just weak. It made me appreciate the album even more (and also the 80's movie)

I have to respectfully disagree about most of Meddle being "filler". "A Pillow Of Winds" is one of my favorite Pink Floyd songs as is San Tropez and Fearless. That album has a very specific mood which only really works when you listen to it all the way through as intended.

S.D. wrote:

"A Pillow Of Winds" is

a good song
but the rest....i don't know, boring, i dislike seamus (i HATE dogs and everything that has to do with dogs) and San Tropez is so boring.

Orion Crystal Ice wrote:

oh, 'Momentary' is so hugely underrated.

It is kinda underrated. I read that "The Dogs of War" was named the worst Pink Floyd Song of all time by some official Pink Floyd Club and i can't understand it. It's one of my favourites. There are way worse PF songs, i for one never understood the appeal of Ummagumma...

San Tropez is a nice little faux-swing era jazz(y) tune with humorous Waters lyrics and a very nice swinging piano solo by Wright.

Ummagumma was conceived for two purposes.

1. A live album featuring how the Syd-era tunes had evolved since Gilmour joined the band...and the versions of most of these tunes are superior to the Saucerful Of Secrets versions.

2. A studio album consisting of "suites" of songs composed/performed by each band member individually, basically a short solo album from each member of the group. It's not entirely successful but I've always loved Gilmour's "The Narrow Way" suite and you can hear the later Floyd sound starting to develop in that piece.

It's the only Pink Floyd I really like at all.

I got the double live 'Is Anybody Out There?' for $1 the other day...

yeah, I love 'Ummagumma' as you can see in the rankings..for those reasons listed... That live period of the band from 69 to about 72 was just outstanding, and I also love Richard Wright's 'Sysyphus' piece. BTW, anyone who doesn't have the 'Live in Pompeii' DVD is highly recommended to pick it up. It perfectly captures the power of what the live Floyd were doing at the time, which can even compare to King Crimson of the same period minus some of the technical stuff. Although I wish 'Echoes' wasn't split up into two on it, because that's my favorite PF song ever, despite it very nearly being ruined for me by a certain reprehensibly-acting Brit.

Division bell and momentary lapse of reason have a real 80s sound. Even delicate sounds of thunder put an 80s sound to the 70s songs on it
I like all 3 albums but I am not a fan of the albums from the 70s.